Many industries, such as the automotive, construction, aviation and manufacturing industries, use mechanical fasteners for attaching one component to another. A diverse range of metal and plastic rivets, clips, and fasteners enable articles to be fastened onto panels or panels to be coupled together. Fastening clips, for example, are designed to insert into or mount onto a panel surface and attach a component to the panel. One such fastening clip is the stud clip insert (or “stud clip” for short), which clips into an aperture of the panel and receives a threaded stud or bolt for attaching the panel to the component. A panel may include any known structure with at least one generally flat segment having opposing mounting surfaces, such as a piece of sheet metal, dry wall, a support pillar or crossbeam, composite board, plate structure, and the like.
Some convention fastening clips require a specially designed, dedicated tool to install the fastening clip to a piece of sheet metal or drywall. Other designs require epoxies or special adhesives for mounting the clip to the panel, while some designs require a separate fastener, such as screws or bolts, to threadably pass through a portion of the clip into the panel for attachment thereto. Further, some bipartite fastening clips comprise a pair of clip components that must be coaxially aligned on opposite sides of the panel and coupled together within an aperture in the panel. Stud clips, by contrast, are typically unitary structures that snap-fit into the panel and, thus, eliminate the need for a nut or washer, specially designed tooling, or adhesives to secure the clip to the panel. Most stud clips are installed from a single side of the panel and, thus, eliminate the need for additional work space and tooling to handle and mount the stud clip.